Legends and Folktales

The legend of Sikidang Crater

The legend of Sikidang crater comes with a love story between a beautiful princess namely Queen Shinta Dewi and King Kidang Garungan, a king with particular body structure since he had body of deer while his head remained human.

The story begins when King Kidang Garungan participated in a contest held for Queen Shinta Dewi’s marriage proposal. Learning that the king had peculiar body, Queen Shinta refused the proposal. She betrayed him by plotting a terrifying plan. She asked the king to dig a very deep well. Later, when he almost finished what she asked him to do, the queen signaled her soldiers to bury the king while he was still under the well. The king was tragically buried and failed to escape. He was very angry and gave all his magical strength. It resulted in a massive explosion and formed crater. The king still tried to escape multiple times by finding a way out in different directions and locations. His effort then appeared like the traces of deer that jumped over here and there. Therefore, the crater is named Sikidang (Sikijang).

The legend of Colorful Lake and Mirror Lake

Once upon a time, there was a well-known, beautiful princess who was attacked with anxiety because she had to choose between two handsome knights who gave her marriage proposals. The queen tried to find solution by holding a contest for both knights, and the winner of the contest would become her daughter’s husband. The contest demanded the both knights to build lakes; those were then recognized as Menjer Lake and Pengilon Lake.

After the two knights competing, the first knight successfully won the contest by building Menjer Lake. He proposed the princess for marriage. One day, both the queen and the winning knight visited Dieng and they saw Pengilon Lake. Pengilon Lake was built by the second knight who failed the contest. Right in that moment, the queen had a change of heart and chose the second knight as her son-in-law.

There were some reasons caused the queen to change her mind. Menjer Lake was the first knight’s masterpiece, but the water in the lake looked rippling / waving and she thought what she saw was the representation of the maker. Whereas the water in Pengilon Lake was crystal clean, sparkling, serene, and peaceful and the queen thought that these were the reflection of the second knight, the maker.

Impressed by what they saw in Pengilon Lake, the queen and the princess took a bath in that lake. They put of their beautiful and colorful clothes before taking a bath. Accidentally, their clothes were carried away by the water to different lake. The water in the lake where the clothes were carried away changed color as the effects of the colors of the clothes. Because of the colorful water, the lake was then called Colorful Lake.

The Legend of Menjer Lake

The folktale starts with a story of two girls who were abruptly vanished into a massive cone-like well. This well was 70ha wide, thus it was named Menjer Lake. Back to its story, the two girls were in a field collecting vegetables when they saw a giant crab crawled closer into their direction. One of the girls walked closer to the crab and stroked it. Suddenly, the crab disappeared and the place where the girls stood turned into a massive hole and sucked them inside, they were drown. The girls had been reckless and disobeyed what their parents had told them before. Their parents prohibited them from disturbing unknown and foreign objects they saw and asked them to leave the place immediately. Sadly, the girls had forgotten and the incident had already come to them.

The Legend of Merdada Lake and Dringo Lake

It is storied that long time ago there were two sons of Resi Gautama (resi: a special title for ascetics in wayang stories) namely Guwarso and Guwarsi, and his daughter namely Dewi Anjani. One day, they fought each other over a special cup belonged to gods. This cup was called Cupu Manik Astagina. The cup was so special because when the lower lid opened, it would show an event in the world, whereas when the upper lid opened, it would give a sight of an event in Sorga Loka or heaven.

Resi Gautama was annoyed and angry watching his children fighting each other. He then threw Cupu Manik away into the air. It caused the upper and lower part of the cup separated. The upper part, called Dringo, fell into the ground and turned into a lake which was later known as Dringo Lake. Meanwhile, the upper part fell far away in different location and it also turned into a lake which people presently know as Merdada Lake.

The Legend of Sileri Crater

The folktale tells about an old witch who was trying to strengthen her magic by climbing a mountain and bringing “leri” (rice water) with her in a special container called “tempurang”. Suddenly, she slipped and the “leri” she brought spilled. The spilled water of “leri” created many small craters. Those craters were formed and the water was white. From this legend, the craters are known as Sileri Crater.